PANews reported on December 3rd, citing DL News, that Russian prosecutors are seeking to seize a large amount of luxury assets belonging to Georgy Satyukov, a fugitive official from a secret service agency. He is accused of receiving $184 million worth of Bitcoin and $30 million worth of Ethereum as bribes from the operators of the now-defunct WEX cryptocurrency exchange. Investigators have identified assets worth $29.6 million related to Satyukov's alleged bribery. Prosecutors claim that Satyukov used the illicit funds to purchase 13 apartments in Russia, several non-residential properties in St. Petersburg, a villa in the UAE, and a million-dollar property in Saratov registered under his brother's name. Furthermore, the investigation found two Porsche Cayenne Turbo cars, seven Patek Philippe watches, and other jewelry worth over $1.3 million in his name, and over $15 million in cash and foreign currency in his family's bank accounts.

The bribe allegedly originated from Alexey Ivanov, a former systems administrator at the WEX exchange, who sought Satyukov's help to evade criminal investigation. Satyukov and his former colleague, Dmitry Sokolov, are currently at large, and a Moscow court is preparing to try them in absentia. If convicted, their assets could be confiscated by the state. WEX took over the trading operations of BTC-e in 2017, after the latter collapsed in 2018 following the arrest of its founder, Alexander Vinnik, in Greece on fraud and money laundering charges.